Visited Monticello - the home of the 3rd President, Thomas Jefferson. Its actually this house that appears on the back of a US 5 cent coin. (We are going to be so good at Trivial Pursuit when we get back).
Enlightening tour on the role/plight of the slaves that Jefferson owned - especially when you consider that he may have had up to 7 children with one of his slaves - Sally Hemmings and that during his lifetime he owned more than 600 slaves (in fact, at the time he was Virginias largest slaveholder). This makes his motives over his attempt to call a halt to new slave importations into Virginia slightly suspect given the fact that he supported the trade in slaves born on Virginian soil …. or are we just sceptics when we are told he was a great humanitarian? Personally (Tony) I think he would be charged with inflicting cruel and unusual punishment upon some of his slaves ( apart from the more obvious charges). Still, I guess one might view him differently if born in the USA.
Interestingly, despite DNA evidence supporting the fact that he fathered at least 7 children with Sally Hemmings to an accuracy of 99.9999% the ‘acknowledged’ descendants of Jefferson still refuse to allow burial of his offspring with Sally H within the family burial ground ….. I wonder why?
Anyone reading this might infer from my words that the little that I have read of the man has not endeared him to me……. quite the contrary in fact. I could list lots more reasons but I fear that it may bore the reader ……………
Moved on from this lovely estate to visit the town of Monticello before driving onto Washington DC.
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